EMR – EMR and EHR Interviewshttp://www.ehrinterviews.com
Interviews with the Best Doctors and EHR Thought LeadersThu, 13 Oct 2011 20:58:53 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.141517003Interview with Kevin McGovern – WebPT Physical Therapy EHR Userhttp://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/10/13/interview-with-kevin-mcgovern-webpt-physical-therapy-ehr-user/
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:58:53 +0000http://www.emrandhipaa.com/interviews/?p=58
How long have you been using an EMR?
We signed on to use another EMR back in October of 2010. That EMR did not work out so well for our clinic, so we switched to Web PT in January of 2011.
What were your biggest frustrations with EMR before you started using WebPT EMR?
Compliance Overkill! I used another company that killed our production and the staff was extremely frustrated. Additionally, there was an arduous process of documentation with the other EMR. Documentation was way too extensive for something that could’ve been recorded in a much simpler way.
Why did you end up deciding to start using WebPT EMR?
What got us to go with WebPT was ease of use, as well as better PQRI reporting.
I’ve read that you believe WebPT does a good job listening to and understanding your practice. What are some examples of how they’ve done that?
We manage our practice by statistics. WebPT was able to tailor some things that gave us the stats that we needed to measure success. ...Read more

]]>The following is an interview with Kevin McGovern, MPTA, and owner of McGovern Physical Therapy. They are located in Massachusetts. Started in 2000, McGovern Physical Therapy now has 4 clinics, 11 treating therapists, 2 PTAs and average 700 visits per week.

How long have you been using an EMR?

We signed on to use another EMR back in October of 2010. That EMR did not work out so well for our clinic, so we switched to Web PT in January of 2011.

What were your biggest frustrations with EMR before you started using WebPT EMR?

Compliance Overkill! I used another company that killed our production and the staff was extremely frustrated. Additionally, there was an arduous process of documentation with the other EMR. Documentation was way too extensive for something that could’ve been recorded in a much simpler way.

Why did you end up deciding to start using WebPT EMR?

What got us to go with WebPT was ease of use, as well as better PQRI reporting.

I’ve read that you believe WebPT does a good job listening to and understanding your practice. What are some examples of how they’ve done that?

We manage our practice by statistics. WebPT was able to tailor some things that gave us the stats that we needed to measure success. For instance, the changes that Web PT has made in the productivity report makes it much easier to track patient visits by therapist. They have also made changes in how a multi-clinic practice like mine was managed. I am able to group a census by the entire company and by individual satellite offices. This saves us a lot of time makes us overall a great deal more efficient.

What feature of WebPT EMR do you find most useful?

We really depend on the scheduling feature and the alerts for re-evaluations. We’ve found that these help keep appointments on track, which helps ensure the patient care. As a business, it also boosts our bottom line.

What’s the biggest pain point of WebPT EMR?

The missing notes report cannot be sorted by patient, but this isn’t a huge hassle. It’s something we’ve made WebPT aware of, as we know they use customer feedback to improve the product constantly.

Has meaningful use had any impact on Physical Therapy since I don’t believe you can qualify for the EHR incentive money?

Meaningful Use hasn’t had too much of an impact. As you say, PT clinics don’t qualify for incentive money. But we do care about making our clinics more efficient and more profitable. WebPT’s EMR system has meant we are able to spend more time with our patients and my PTs are happier. When our PTs are more productive and can fit in more time with patients, that directly impacts the health of our business. Additionally, I would say that the paperwork demands in today’s healthcare model destroys patient care. We as therapists have to spend so much time documenting daily notes, protecting ourselves against regulations and lawsuits, and applying to insurance companies for more visits or time to properly treat her patients. All this put together puts a dent in our ability to treat patients. So in today’s healthcare model, we must use technology that can speed the paperwork process, so we can dedicate more, valuable time to our patients.

Have you done any interfaces with hospital systems or other outside providers? If so, how has that gone?

We link up with an outside billing company, and WebPT integrates with popular billing platforms, which is helpful.

How does WebPT help you since you have 4 different clinics?

Office integration is key! We have one system that supports all four clinics. Documents are recorded once and then visible across the entire business. This is a huge benefit.

Are you concerned about the privacy, security and reliability of a web based EMR?

]]>58Dr. Lynn Ho – Ultra-Solo Doc: Meaningful EHR User With Amazing Chartshttp://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/08/02/dr-lynn-ho-ultra-solo-doc-meaningful-ehr-user-with-amazing-charts/
http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/08/02/dr-lynn-ho-ultra-solo-doc-meaningful-ehr-user-with-amazing-charts/#commentsTue, 02 Aug 2011 16:13:25 +0000http://www.emrandhipaa.com/interviews/?p=48
1. Please tell us about your background and training and when you became a sole practitioner?
I graduated from NYU School of Medicine and finished a family practice residency at the University of Rochester in 1989. Before opening my micropractice, I had worked in a variety of different settings, including an HMO, community health centers, a university health center and a typical private office practice. I opened my no-staff micropractice in 2004 after reading Gordon Moore’s groundbreaking articles on solo-practice and seeing a local colleague succeed with a similar type of practice in Rhode Island.
2. I understand your practice is defined as a “micro practice”. Can you explain what you mean by that and how it differs from a traditional practice?
In my particular case, ‘micropractice’ refers to a small, low overhead, no staff, high tech – high touch practice.
– a small practice (850 patients vs. the usual patient size panel of 1500-3000 patients)
– that because of low overhead (25-30% of gross collections vs. usual 60%, attributable to not paying staff salaries and leveraging computers to run an efficient and effective practice)
– is able to spend adequate amounts of time with the patient during each patient encounter (30-60 minutes vs. the national primary care average of about 7.5 minutes)
– which ...Read more

1. Please tell us about your background and training and when you became a sole practitioner?

I graduated from NYU School of Medicine and finished a family practice residency at the University of Rochester in 1989. Before opening my micropractice, I had worked in a variety of different settings, including an HMO, community health centers, a university health center and a typical private office practice. I opened my no-staff micropractice in 2004 after reading Gordon Moore’s groundbreaking articles on solo-practice and seeing a local colleague succeed with a similar type of practice in Rhode Island.

2. I understand your practice is defined as a “micro practice”. Can you explain what you mean by that and how it differs from a traditional practice?

In my particular case, ‘micropractice’ refers to a small, low overhead, no staff, high tech – high touch practice.
– a small practice (850 patients vs. the usual patient size panel of 1500-3000 patients)
– that because of low overhead (25-30% of gross collections vs. usual 60%, attributable to not paying staff salaries and leveraging computers to run an efficient and effective practice)
– is able to spend adequate amounts of time with the patient during each patient encounter (30-60 minutes vs. the national primary care average of about 7.5 minutes)
– which leads one to be able to better provide the cardinal primary care functions of supplying “access, continuity over time, coordination and comprehensiveness” in a patient centric manner.

3. What led you to make the change from traditional to micro practice?

The current financing model of delivering primary care – cranking on volume of visits to meet overhead and salary – is bankrupt and broken. I wanted to move to a model that would be better for patients and lead to more professional satisfaction for myself. I wanted more control over the way I practiced medicine.

4. When did you start using Amazing Charts (AC) and why did you choose them over other EHR vendors?

One of the key underpinnings of running a micropractice is achieving and maintaining low overhead, (around 30% of gross earnings). I did know that I did NOT want to work just to have to pay for my EHR.

When I first started my practice my AC license cost me just $500. Back in 2004, AC did not have a lot of bells and whistles but as a startup I was nowhere near using the program to its fullest capacity. Starting out is tough! I had the naive idea that with a laptop, an all-in-one, an internet connection and an EHR as the centerpiece of my technology stable, I was set for life. I was blissfully unaware of what my burgeoning technology configuration (see list below) was going to evolve to include, and how many other pieces of technology were going to have to ‘play nice’ with my EHR. Luckily for me, and because AC is very responsive to requests from users, all of the software pieces that I use integrate well with my EMR, both via formal interfaces and in my informal workflow.

To reiterate, low cost, ease of set up, maintenance and use, and ability to easily integrate with other workflow processes are the EMR qualities that I’ve found to be essential in my micropractice, and I find that AC meets and often delightfully exceeds these criteria.

No – actually I had never really used a computer (except for email, and that was a Mac!) before opening my practice in 2004.

6. I understand you are in the process of attesting to Meaningful Use. Was it necessary to upgrade your current EHR in order to meet requirements for MU?

I had to upgrade to the latest version – version 6 to use the wizards that would count up my data.

7. How long have you been working towards MU?

I’ve been counting data for about 2 months, and am on track to “pass” by month 3.

8. How much additional time is it taking to meet the criteria for attestation?

It takes about 2-5 more minutes per encounter to include the documentation for Meaningful Use.

9. Can you give us an overview of what the process has been like thus far?

Generally speaking, I find it exceptionally vexing to have to spend extra time documenting what I already do for bean counters. I could be using this extra time to actually improve patient care instead of just filling in boxes. Luckily, on a visit by visit level, the MU wizard in my EMR makes it mindless, simple and not too painful to collect the required data and document the required work processes.

10. What changes have you had to make in your practice as a result of meaningful use?

I have not materially had to change office processes, though I have had to change documentation procedures so that items are compiled correctly for MU.

For example: I used to send patient summaries via email to most patients.
5 clicks: copy content – return to demographics screen – open email to patient – paste – send, about 30 seconds.
Now, in order to document that I am sending these summaries for MU, I have to click on the MU box, print that to a secure email, click( 2x )and type (2x ) within the secure email program to attach label and send, wait for the CCD to print and then click to return to the note. 8 steps and some are slightly more than just a click. It all takes about 90 seconds.

Another example – Smoking documentation requires a formal reassessment of the data as MU needs it, but it’s usually not the way I’ve previously free texted it.

It’s just a little more cumbersome, might take about 2-5 minutes more per patient encounter.

11. Word is that you’re a “paperless office.” How do you handle things like the patient intake paperwork to avoid having lots of paper lying around?

Patients send me their clinical histories before every visit electronically using Instant Medical History from my website or from an office kiosk, so I don’t use paper for those forms at all.

I do have new patients sign a laminated “HIPAA-consent to bill-consent to email form” – one signature gets it all. Then I scan in the page along with a copy of the insurance card to a file. I rinse off the marker from the laminated sheet under the tap and am ready for the next new patient.

I use EDI interfaces for most labs and some x Rays and consults, and most consultants fax me their information electronically.

Other non interfacing labs and radiology reports come in via paperless fax to a folder on my computer.

If there is a particular consultant or facility that mails me information more than twice, I will call them and ask them, going forward, to fax their information to me.

There are a number of tricks to minimizing use of paper in the office. Having paper embedded into your office routine requires extra labor (opening mail, scanning, shredding, filing, retrieving files) and the expense of storage space and materials.

12. Who has been helping you through the meaningful use process (consultant, your EHR vendor, your REC, etc.)?

Mostly the EHR folks- attended a webinar and then had some back and forth with the developers, as I was an early beta tester for the MU process.

The REC folks came by, but since the processes were in place they just encouraged me to actually decide to apply for MU by dangling the financial rewards in front of me.

13. What would you offer as guidance to your fellow doctors regarding EHR’s and obtaining MU status?

If the processes that MU is supposed to document are already in place – if you are already leveraging your EMR to help you in your practice in a meaningful way, then depending on your Medicare/Medicaid revenues/patient mix, it may be worth it to apply. The question there is, are the monies received – or the penalty that you would incur, worth the time it will take you to: 1) learn about the MU program, 2) learn how to use the MU features of the EMR, and, 3) actually do the documentation?

Payout is also dependent on your payer mix and volume of the practice. For example, because my straight Medicare income was about $10K last year, I stand to get, over 4 years, about $22K so, coupling the payment with the curiosity factor of seeing what our cutting edge HIT people are up to, I decided it was almost ‘worth it’ for me.

If the processes are not in place – items such as, ‘you don’t use the EMR to collect demographic data’ to ‘your EMR does not support E-prescribing’, then there’s the additional work of adopting these processes into your workflow. Again you’d have to weigh the payment against the work of adopting new workflows AND becoming schooled and practiced in MU deployment. This work is not an insignificant burden and many small primary care practices that run with very tight margins and lack breathing room will not be able to succeed.

Of course, if you work for Kaiser or another large group, I would imagine that they would deploy both IT and clinical staff to do this work for you.

]]>http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/08/02/dr-lynn-ho-ultra-solo-doc-meaningful-ehr-user-with-amazing-charts/feed/248Jan Patterson, Office Manager of West Broadway Clinic – Force Behind its MU Implementation and Attestation Processhttp://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/29/jan-patterson-office-manager-of-west-broadway-clinic-force-behind-its-mu-implementation-and-attestation-process/
http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/29/jan-patterson-office-manager-of-west-broadway-clinic-force-behind-its-mu-implementation-and-attestation-process/#commentsWed, 29 Jun 2011 16:25:37 +0000http://www.emrandhipaa.com/interviews/?p=41
West Broadway Clinic has three physicians and two PA’s – all three physicians successfully attested to Meaningful use on April 20, 2011. The practice encompasses multiple specialties including family medicine, internal medicine, endocrinology, diabetes, women’s healthcare and offers onsite x-ray, dexa scan and vasectomies. The following interview is with Jan Patterson, the Practice Manager who drove the MU process and attestation.

1. How did you learn about and select Cerner as your EHR?

At West Broadway Clinic in Council Bluffs, Iowa, we learned about Cerner Corporation through a local hospital. After extensive research into Cerner and several other vendors, we made the decision that the integration of Cerner’s Practice Management System and Ambulatory EHR would be the most beneficial to our organization.

2. What’s your take on EHR certification and did that influence your EHR selection process?

The EHR certification is a vital piece for being able to meet the CME incentive requirements, and we feel that we are practicing better medicine and using our EHR solution more efficiently after receiving certification. We selected our EHR well in advance of the reporting process, so it was not a major influence in the selection process. Still, we have been very pleased with how efficient our EHR solution has been with assisting us in reaching ...Read more

]]>West Broadway Clinic has three physicians and two PA’s – all three physicians successfully attested to Meaningful use on April 20, 2011. The practice encompasses multiple specialties including family medicine, internal medicine, endocrinology, diabetes, women’s healthcare and offers onsite x-ray, dexa scan and vasectomies. The following interview is with Jan Patterson, the Practice Manager who drove the MU process and attestation.

1. How did you learn about and select Cerner as your EHR?

At West Broadway Clinic in Council Bluffs, Iowa, we learned about Cerner Corporation through a local hospital. After extensive research into Cerner and several other vendors, we made the decision that the integration of Cerner’s Practice Management System and Ambulatory EHR would be the most beneficial to our organization.

2. What’s your take on EHR certification and did that influence your EHR selection process?

The EHR certification is a vital piece for being able to meet the CME incentive requirements, and we feel that we are practicing better medicine and using our EHR solution more efficiently after receiving certification. We selected our EHR well in advance of the reporting process, so it was not a major influence in the selection process. Still, we have been very pleased with how efficient our EHR solution has been with assisting us in reaching certification.

3. How long has your office been using an EHR? Is this your first EHR?

West Broadway Clinic started using an EHR in May of 2008 when our office opened. Prior to the clinic opening the providers were not using an EHR – but the providers made it an initiative to start the clinic on an electronic solution. We knew we would be up and running with an electronic solution on day one. This included an EHR and practice management solution.

4. Would you walk us through the process you followed to meet the meaningful use requirements and how did Cerner assist you in the process?

In order for West Broadway Clinic to be able to meet the Meaningful Use requirements an extensive amount of time was spent by the practice administrator attending webinars provided by Cerner Corporation regarding Meaningful Use, as well as researching the CME website and examining materials available through Medical Group Management Association, MGMA. In addition, Cerner arranged a Meaningful Use summit at our office for our office along with several of the Cerner user groups in our area – this consisted of several Cerner associates highlighting important parts of Meaningful Use, answering questions and making suggestions to assist with the process to successfully attesting. Upon compiling the requirements, time was spent one-on-one with both the providers and the clinical staff to ensure that everyone fully understood the requirements and how to use the EHR to meet the requirements.

5. How many of the meaningful use requirements were you able to meet with little or no effort because you were already doing them? Did the Cerner EHR affect this?

West Broadway Clinic was able to meet 9 of the meaningful use requirements with little or no effort since as were already conducting several of these requirements through the use of our EHR. The use of the Cerner EHR and the elements that were already built into the EHR were the major factor we were able to meet these requirements so easily. Additionally, as we ran into any issues – we were able to contact Cerner’s Meaningful Use team (a group of designated associates) to assist, which eased the process.

6. Which meaningful use requirements did your clinic find most challenging to meet and why?

Probably the most challenging Meaningful Use requirement for our clinic was encouraging all of the providers to use the electronic prescription function. However, once they understood the necessity of using electronic prescriptions and became comfortable with the function they have continued to increase the number of electronic prescriptions they are sending to the pharmacies.

7. How long did the actual process take for you to fully comply with the meaningful use requirements?

West Broadway Clinic worked in earnest to be fully complying with the Meaningful Use requirements as quickly as possible after the beginning of 2011. These efforts allowed us the opportunity to be able to attest on April 20, 2011 – two days after attestation opened.

West Broadway Clinic has seen many positive changes in patient care with the use of a certified EHR. With the use of Cerner’s Ambulatory EHR our staff has the ability to have the most current visit information and patient history at our fingertips. Patients receive more continuity of care due to the fact that regardless of what provider they are seeing within our office the provider can quickly and easily track what services and/or medications a different provider has provided the patient. We deliver a better quality of care and we’ve enhanced safety measures through our use of the EHR. Components such as eprescribe, medicine/drug interactions, allergy checks, complete documentation, immunization schedules, growth charts, etc., have made us more efficient throughout the office from billing to practice management to prescribing medications and providing more thorough care in the patient’s room.

9. What was the driving motivation for your clinic to show meaningful use? And why be one of the first to show meaningful use?

West Broadway Clinic is committed to providing excellent patient care and providing patient’s with the opportunity to benefit from the latest in technology. With meaningful use of an EHR our patients are afforded these opportunities. By being one of the first groups of providers to meet the Meaningful Use requirements and report on them successfully, we are further able to show our commitment to our patients and their healthcare.

10. As a practice manager, what techniques did you use to get your physicians on board with meaningful use and EHR?

As a practice we had been discussing Meaningful Use for over a year and as the time grew near to implement the process the physicians were fully aware of the expectations and requirements and the benefits that would be provided to our patients. A lot of communication went into ensuring that all of the physicians were on board.

11. Would you recommend that every health clinic show meaningful use and adopt an EHR? Why or why not?

After being on an EHR for more than three years I cannot imagine trying to function efficiently with a paper system. While the training period was stressful at times and it took the physicians a while to adjust, the benefits far outweigh any of the pain points. In addition, the opportunity to be able to transmit and receive patient information from other facilities in the future will only continue to enhance our patient care and the delivery of quality patient care is why we are practicing medicine in the first place.

12. For all healthcare professionals reading this interview, what advice would you give them in starting the meaningful use process?

For anyone starting the Meaningful Use process, my advice is to first gather all of your information and facts. It is vital to be clear on the direction you need to take in order to ensure that all of the requirements are being met. In addition to thoroughly explaining all of the requirements to your physicians/staff and gaining their buy-in communicate with your staff and ensure that they fully understand the benefits and the necessity of meeting the Meaningful Use requirements, which is primarily to use your electronic records in a successful, meaningful way that will enhance the delivery and quality of care that your office provides. Remember the main reason why you are attesting, the money is a great incentive – but the biggest factor in successfully attesting is the benefit to your patients. Anyone can purchase an EHR and use it unsuccessfully or at its minimal functionality – to use it to it’s very best ability and to meet the requirements set forth by the Meaningful Use standards is to practice better medicine for your patients and to encourage others in your field to make quality care the highest priority.

The greatest challenge for EHR and Meaningful Use continues to be the necessity to ensure that all the physicians and staff are continuing to maintain their high level of entering the correct and necessary data in patient’s charts to enable us to increase our reporting requirement levels far after successfully attesting. I have continued to monitor my staff’s levels after attestation and I’ve found that their numbers continue to increase – which is a positive realization for our staff and for our patients. It will also be imperative that we continue to monitor any new information coming out of CME and Cerner regarding meaningful use requirements especially as we gear up for Phase 2.

14. What’s been the biggest benefit to your clinic of having an EHR?

West Broadway Clinic has benefited from having an EHR in multiple ways from never having to track down a paper chart to the continuity of care it provides for our patients. Having an EHR that integrates with our Practice Management System has reduced the amount of time it takes for charges to be entered and then forwarded to insurance companies. The adoption of an EHR has enabled West Broadway Clinic to become more efficient and be able to focus more upon the patient as a person. The increased benefits of safety cannot be undersold. With the assistance of the EHR, we are practicing better, safer medicine than we could on paper records.

]]>http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/29/jan-patterson-office-manager-of-west-broadway-clinic-force-behind-its-mu-implementation-and-attestation-process/feed/341Center for Family Medicine Earns Maximum Incentive for MU – Interview with Dr. Muirhttp://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/09/center-for-family-medicine-earns-maximum-incentive-for-mu-interview-with-dr-muir/
http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/09/center-for-family-medicine-earns-maximum-incentive-for-mu-interview-with-dr-muir/#commentsThu, 09 Jun 2011 18:24:19 +0000http://www.emrandhipaa.com/interviews/?p=23
Interview of Dr. Peter Muir of Springfield Center for Family Medicine
How long have you been using EMR? Which EMR do you use?
We have been on NextGen Ambulatory EHR since 2003 and NextGen Practice Management since 2006 for billing and scheduling.
Did you have to upgrade your EMR to meet the certified EHR and meaningful use requirements? How much did it cost for you to do that if you had to?
Upgrades are provided as part of NextGen maintenance fees.
What criteria did you find most important in your selection of an EHR?
We selected NextGen EHR in 2002 because the company was focused on clinical offices. It was not a product purchased from another company. NextGen invests heavily in improving the product, which was important to us. I have even attended a development think tank at the company’s headquarters in Horsham. I also wanted the capability to self customize templates and gain full access to data with tools such as Crystal Reports. In addition, the EHR handles routine activities (time, date, etc.) which lets you focus on tracking health maintenance and prevention.
Having demographics, scheduling, clinical and billing in one database makes reporting much easier and more comprehensive than those EHRs with separate databases or separate vendors. Kudos to NextGen for addressing this. It ...Read more

]]>Interview of Dr. Peter Muir of Springfield Center for Family Medicine

How long have you been using EMR? Which EMR do you use?

We have been on NextGen Ambulatory EHR since 2003 and NextGen Practice Management since 2006 for billing and scheduling.

Did you have to upgrade your EMR to meet the certified EHR and meaningful use requirements? How much did it cost for you to do that if you had to?

Upgrades are provided as part of NextGen maintenance fees.

What criteria did you find most important in your selection of an EHR?

We selected NextGen EHR in 2002 because the company was focused on clinical offices. It was not a product purchased from another company. NextGen invests heavily in improving the product, which was important to us. I have even attended a development think tank at the company’s headquarters in Horsham. I also wanted the capability to self customize templates and gain full access to data with tools such as Crystal Reports. In addition, the EHR handles routine activities (time, date, etc.) which lets you focus on tracking health maintenance and prevention.

Having demographics, scheduling, clinical and billing in one database makes reporting much easier and more comprehensive than those EHRs with separate databases or separate vendors. Kudos to NextGen for addressing this. It was done so long ago that I take it for granted now, but it has had a huge impact on operability.
It really can take up to a year to migrate information from paper charts into structured data. We were not under a time pressure since we had a self-imposed timetable in 2003. This allowed our docs to progress at their own pace. I changed to doing all my documentation in the EHR approximately 3 months after startup. The first year was stressful but after that you would not go back to paper charts. Because we started the process so long ago, we were really on the ‘bleeding edge.’

How many hours of extra effort do you estimate it took for you and your staff to meet the meaningful use criteria?

It is really difficult to estimate since we have been constantly evolving since 2003. In fact our motto is that the only constant is change. Our work flows are constantly being fine tuned.

What were some of the changes you had to make to your practice style or documentation methods to meet meaningful use?

Cindy Brewer (our business office manager) focuses on office/clerical and I focus on clinical. For Meaningful Use, we had to capture some information as structured data that is not necessarily the most useful for our clinical purposes. For example, race/ethnicity groupings have more in common with government categories than the genetic risk grouping I use clinically. (eg. I differentiate between Northern and Southern Europe descent, and between India and Asia, due to differences in genetic risk.) As a result, we capture that MU-required info in the registration process rather than the clinical process.

I go after smoking cessation aggressively, but in the past would not always document it if it was not the main purpose of the visit. Often, we would document it in the plan as text rather than in the social history smoking cessation check box. Only the later can be easily tabulated for Meaningful Use, so a minor change in our work flow was required to meet that requirement.

There was no real change in our practice style from the patient perspective.

Who helped you through the process (your vendor, a consultant, your REC, etc)?

CMS web site for requirements and advice, attestation process, etc.
NextGen Healthcare for upgrades to software, pathway documents and webinars – very helpful
GBS of Youngstown, Ohio is our NextGen vendor for hardware and software – very helpful
GBS also did our server and security upgrades in 2010 in anticipation of the process

In 2006 I also helped start CCHIE (Collaborating Communities HIE) connecting to and using HealthBridge as our data engine. Southern Indiana HeathLINC (Bloomington) was also connecting to HealthBridge around the same time.

HealthBridge also spawned the TriState REC. CCHIE is part of the TriState REC. Ron Mayse of CDI Springfield (CCHIE & REC) was of great help for technical support and advice on Meaningful Use. Charles Baumgardner of Far North Computers was helpful for network and security.

I continue to assist CCHIE and the REC as a physician informaticist. I feel it’s important to keep learning by doing.

What would you have done different in your efforts to show meaningful use?

Initially I thought that PQRI (now PQRS) would fulfill the clinical Quality Measures menu component, so I left it towards the end. Fortunately, the required information was already being captured by the time I made the discovery. (BTW, these may be difficult for specialty offices.)

What benefits did you receive from being part of the ONC Meaningful Use Vanguard Program?

I have been using computers to assist medical practices since 1980. The Vanguard Program provides recognition which may allow a greater input in system design and operation, which interested me. The flow of information between systems is critical and has not received enough attention (multiple database silos still exist within and between different vendors). Problems that face healthcare include ICD-10 implementation, variations in LOINC classification, and a lack of standardization.

Meaningful use Stage 1 has a relatively low bar. Are you concerned that stage 2 and 3 might be a much harder challenge?

I think the set points of some items do not jive with real practice. For example, patient portals that are tethered to a vendor would require a patient with three doctors on three different systems to have three different portals. A regional solution would provide for improved flow between offices.

The signal-to-noise ratio is critical, as important information can be buried within a lot of routine data. In other words, a paragraph of pertinent positives can be more helpful for diagnosis that pages of negatives.

What do you say to your fellow doctors who are concerned about implementing an EHR in their practice?
Unless you are planning to retire in the next couple of years, the longer you delay the process, the more compressed the time you’ll have to implement an EHR and the more financial and staffing impact it will have. Those who have waited will know specifically what targets they have to meet for meaningful use, but the activities of daily practice are much broader and more demanding.

The reason for using computers in practice should be to improve patient care, safety and outcomes rather than just meeting meaningful use. Do not select a system that just meets the meaningful use requirements; select a system that assists you in providing better medical care.

]]>http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/09/center-for-family-medicine-earns-maximum-incentive-for-mu-interview-with-dr-muir/feed/123Interview of the Happy EMR Doctor – Dr. Westhttp://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/02/interview-of-the-happy-emr-doctor-dr-west/
http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/02/interview-of-the-happy-emr-doctor-dr-west/#commentsThu, 02 Jun 2011 21:26:36 +0000http://www.emrandhipaa.com/interviews/?p=21
I completed my fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. I began using an electronic medical record when I opened my practice in December 2009.
1. You’re on your second EMR after a failed EMR experience. I know you can’t reveal the name of your first EMR vendor, but what went so wrong?
Lots of things, but mainly it was the fact that it didn’t perform as the vendor described it would. Different parts were always malfunctioning. For example, the History of Present Illness section of my notes would sometimes get deleted when we tried to format the notes for faxing to a referring doctor. Different buttons on the screen which were supposed to be for functions were never functional. You would click them and nothing would happen. The accounting part of the software would not allow patients to be issued refunds in the case of overpayment, and so our financial books could not be kept accurate. Etc, etc.
2. What frustrated you the most about your first EMR?
That the company would make promises to fix it and never completely get it done. ...Read more

]]>Hi Dr. West, could you tell us your educational background and EMR experience?

I completed my fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. I began using an electronic medical record when I opened my practice in December 2009.

1. You’re on your second EMR after a failed EMR experience. I know you can’t reveal the name of your first EMR vendor, but what went so wrong?

Lots of things, but mainly it was the fact that it didn’t perform as the vendor described it would. Different parts were always malfunctioning. For example, the History of Present Illness section of my notes would sometimes get deleted when we tried to format the notes for faxing to a referring doctor. Different buttons on the screen which were supposed to be for functions were never functional. You would click them and nothing would happen. The accounting part of the software would not allow patients to be issued refunds in the case of overpayment, and so our financial books could not be kept accurate. Etc, etc.

2. What frustrated you the most about your first EMR?

That the company would make promises to fix it and never completely get it done. When one fix was completed, another part of the system would develop a new bug that was not there before. I think they were amateurs who basically got in over their heads and could not dig themselves out of the hole.

3. I know you are very happy with your current Free EMR, Practice Fusion, but after your failed EMR experience did you want to quit using EMRs all together? If not what or why were you still convinced there had to be a way to make EMRs work for your practice?

No, we had heard stories of other companies who had needed to change vendors and were prepared to keep on our mission of being an electronic practice. But it was indeed a scary time because we had just gotten burned with our first vendor. That said, I can see how many doctors who are less certain about the EMR concept for their practices may not have tried again at that point.

4. What do you think other doctors and healthcare professionals should avoid so that their initial experience with EMRs are less traumatic and more rewarding?

I think they should avoid rushing into a relationship with an EMR vendor; they should avoid signing a contract that does not include a satisfaction and money-back guarantee; and they should avoid continuing with an EMR vendor that has not provided a system to their satisfaction after an introductory period.

5. What should doctors and practice managers be looking for in their pursuit of finding an EMR that fits their needs?

I recommend searching for a vendor that is willing to let a provider test drive the EMR in the provider’s practice for an introductory period before committing to it. I think that a month would be enough time to find out all the problems, if any. There may need to be a deposit for this, but that should be fully refundable. They should be looking for a vendor that does not have a lot of very specific hardware requirements since hardware is not easy to return in the case where a provider needs to switch to an different EMR vendor.

6. What specific questions should other practices ask before signing a contract to have an EMR software package installed?

I think many of the answers are in my answer to question 5.

7. American Medical News reported the results of a recent study conducted by UC Davis which connected decreased productivity with EMR systems because of a lack of customization for given specialties. Was this an issue for you?

No. Practice Fusion is designed such that you can build your own templates to include whatever you like in the notes. After you create your own templates to your liking, I found that I could see patients faster and complete their notes sooner than before. All of my daily notes are essentially done by 5 pm.

8. Did you try other EMR software in between your first disastrous EMR experience and your current EMR?

We interviewed other vendors and viewed demos, but we had no other EMR in practice.

9. If you did, could you tell us about why you chose not to use them and could you tell us what the Practice Fusion EHR had that enticed you to go with them?

We went with Practice Fusion because it was free and web-based. Therefore it could be tried and discontinued, if necessary, without additional cost to us.

If you mean before using any EMR whatsoever, then I would say charting in general. At Hopkins you had to dictate all your notes, spend additional time reviewing and editing them, and then sign. Now, using customized templates that I designed myself, that is all gone.

11. Besides Practice Fusion being free, can you tell those who might want to test the waters what you like the most about it?

It’s very intuitive. I like to call it the Gmail of EMRs. I imagine that eventually nearly everyone will have an account.

12. Explain the benefits of customized templates and details regarding how you designed your templates?

Benefits include a more uniform approach to common problems, such as diabetes and thyroid nodules. All patients with these conditions follow a thorough and well-defined path of questions designed to gather the most meaningful and relevant information.

13. How have you handled the issue of making each record unique to your patients’ medical issues when using templates?

Well, you still have to add unique contextual details, and for this you have to type a sentence here and there. These can be as long or short as you like.

14. Medicare and Medicaid decided to eliminate consultation codes. Is that one of the reasons you have decided against taking Medicare patients?

Yes, but only one of many reasons.

15. Why did you opt out of participating in the EHR government incentive plan? Aren’t you forfeiting a substantial sum of money by not participating?

On the surface it would appear so. It’s been an issue of angst for me personally, and I may blog on this inner struggle in the future over at happyemrdoctor.com.

16. In a recent survey conducted by the AACE, it was revealed that because of Medicare’s decision to remove the code allowing the consult charge, 4 out of 5 endocrinologists were going to reduce the number of patients seen in their practice. Are you aware of any groups working to reverse Medicare’s decision? What impact will this have on the future of Medicare?

As far as groups working to reverse Medicare’s decision, I am aware that AACE already sent CMS a letter, and I found this letter as well.

In making this change, Medicare will save a lot of money for itself and shift the burden of payments back to patients who cannot find a subspecialist within travel distance who will accept Medicare. They will be forced into paying out-of-pocket for needed medical services. What most patients don’t know is that, under current Medicare rules (unlike commercial insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield), patients cannot send in claims to Medicare for services rendered by doctors who have opted out of Medicare. To see an opted-out doctor, patients are forced to sign a Medicare contract stating that they will not send in any claims, despite having had necessary medical services. Medicare makes it more financially painful not to use their contracted doctors than do commercial carriers who have out-of-network options. As for the future of Medicare, I think that less doctors will be available in the system to supply demand to a growing number of baby-boomer Medicare patients.

]]>http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/06/02/interview-of-the-happy-emr-doctor-dr-west/feed/221Welcome to the EHR, EMR and Healthcare IT Interviews Site!!http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/05/19/welcome-to-the-ehr-emr-and-healthcare-it-interviews-site/
http://www.ehrinterviews.com/2011/05/19/welcome-to-the-ehr-emr-and-healthcare-it-interviews-site/#commentsThu, 19 May 2011 18:11:42 +0000http://www.emrandhipaa.com/interviews/?p=13
We’ll also do everything we can to interview as many doctors as possible. Our goal will be to find doctors in every different stage of the EMR implementation and selection process. Doctors who haven’t even selected an EMR. Doctors who have been using an EMR for as long as they can remember. Old doctors. Young doctors. Doctors who used one EMR and then switched to a different EMR. Doctors who have been part of a failed EMR implementation. Etc etc etc!
Then of course, we’ll do what we can to interview EMR vendors, healthcare IT vendors, EMR consultants, Practice Managers, Nurses, IT Consultants, etc.
If you couldn’t tell, we want to get all perspectives possible about the goods and bads of EMR. One of my favorite ways to learn is by learning from other’s experiences. Hopefully this blog will become a fantastic resource for ...Read more

]]>We’re just getting started with the new EHR, EMR and Healthcare IT interviews website. Thanks for stopping by. Our goal with this site is to interview some of the smartest minds when it comes to EHR, EMR and healthcare IT. We’ll certainly interview a number of people that you know, but also interview a number of people that you probably didn’t know before.

We’ll also do everything we can to interview as many doctors as possible. Our goal will be to find doctors in every different stage of the EMR implementation and selection process. Doctors who haven’t even selected an EMR. Doctors who have been using an EMR for as long as they can remember. Old doctors. Young doctors. Doctors who used one EMR and then switched to a different EMR. Doctors who have been part of a failed EMR implementation. Etc etc etc!

Then of course, we’ll do what we can to interview EMR vendors, healthcare IT vendors, EMR consultants, Practice Managers, Nurses, IT Consultants, etc.

If you couldn’t tell, we want to get all perspectives possible about the goods and bads of EMR. One of my favorite ways to learn is by learning from other’s experiences. Hopefully this blog will become a fantastic resource for those wanting to learn from other smart people.

If you’re someone who would be willing to be interviewed or if you know of smart people we should be sure to interview, just leave a comment on this post.